Feinstein’s daughter in legal feud over family finances amid senator’s health problems
Emily Jacobs
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Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) family is embroiled in a legal battle that has revealed private disputes pitting her and her daughter against the three children of her wealthy late husband.
When financier Richard Blum, Feinstein’s husband since 1980, died in February last year, his net worth was an estimated $1 billion. Feinstein grew up in privilege and was independently wealthy when they married, but Blum’s fortune significantly elevated the senator’s standard of living.
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People familiar with Blum’s finances, however, now say that the private equity magnate lost his billionaire status during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, Blum’s heirs and beneficiaries are receiving less than expected. This has caused concern, especially for Feinstein and her daughter, about the senator’s ability to cover her extensive medical costs following a shingles diagnosis in February, much of which may not be covered by insurance.
Amid questions about the true value of Blum’s net worth, the California senator and her daughter, Katherine Feinstein, are fighting the late financier’s three daughters from a previous marriage in two contentious court battles. The younger Feinstein, a former San Francisco Superior Court judge who was Blum’s stepdaughter, has filed claims in both cases for her mother, whom she has power of attorney over.
The first dispute relates to the Blum children’s opposition to Feinstein’s desire to sell a beach house just north of San Francisco, California. Feinstein, 66, accuses Blum’s daughters in the filing of trying to use the property, which she says is in disrepair, at her mother’s expense. The filing states that the Blums are limiting the 90-year-old widow’s ability to sell off parts of her late husband’s trust in order to increase the value of their inheritance after her death.
The second case is a fight for control of Blum’s marital trust, which was established in 1996 and includes a life insurance policy and its proceeds. Katherine Feinstein alleges in a filing for this matter that while her mother was the “sole income beneficiary” for the trust, she has been denied requested assets by its current trustees.
The filing claims that two of Blum’s longtime associates, Marc Scholvinck and Michael Klein, were improperly appointed to the trustee roles after his death and accuses the men of refusing to fulfill Feinstein’s requests for money for medical expenses.
Steven Braccini, an attorney for Scholvinck and Klein, said in a statement that his clients were “perplexed by this filing” and that Blum’s trust “has never denied any disbursement to Senator Feinstein, let alone for medical expenses.”
The statement continues by noting that the two men have “not been presented with any evidence showing that Katherine Feinstein has power of attorney for her mother” and that they “remain hopeful that this is simply a misunderstanding that can be quickly resolved, rather than a stepdaughter engaging in some kind of misguided attempt to gain control over trust assets to which she is not entitled.”
A Feinstein spokesman did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment on the senator’s daughter having power of attorney for her.
Feinstein, the Senate’s oldest member, has had memory and cognition troubles for years, though it wasn’t until her shingles diagnosis kept her out of the upper chamber for months that her condition became headline news.
After years of criticisms from those in her party who said she was no longer up to the job, Feinstein said at the time of her diagnosis that she wouldn’t seek reelection in 2024, though she vowed to serve out the remaining 20 months of her term. Facing resignation calls from House Democrats and frustration from her Senate colleagues that was spilling out into public view, a wheelchair-bound Feinstein returned to the Capitol in mid-May looking frail and at times disoriented.
Feinstein has remained adamant that she will not resign before the end of her term despite concerns about her fitness to serve and has described being a senator as her “calling.” The 90-year-old has largely been kept out of public view since then, being whisked to and from votes and committee hearings by staff without taking many questions from journalists.
The senator has taken part in some Hill activities since her return, including a photo shoot for National Seersucker Day in early June, though she hasn’t been out and about in her home state since late last year.
Feinstein was slated to appear at a Wednesday event in San Francisco, a gathering her office indicated as recently as Tuesday she’d be in attendance for, but was a no-show. Her office cited health issues for her absence, saying in a statement, “She is not feeling well and has a cough. She decided it was best to stay at home.”
A New York Times report in May alleged that Feinstein’s shingles had “spread to her face and neck, causing vision and balance impairments and facial paralysis known as Ramsay Hunt syndrome.” She was also experiencing post-shingles encephalitis, which “can leave patients with lasting memory or language problems, sleep disorders, bouts of confusion, mood disorders, headaches and difficulties walking.”
As other outlets began to confirm the diagnosis rumors with sources close to Feinstein, her office acknowledged she was suffering the effects of Ramsay Hunt syndrome but did not address the encephalitis matter specifically.
Feinstein’s colleagues, both senators and longtime staffers, expressed dismay about her noticeable decline after her return to the Capitol.
“It’s a noticeable difference from before [the shingles diagnosis],” a Republican senator who serves with Feinstein on the Senate Judiciary Committee told the Washington Examiner in late June.
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The senator, who spoke on condition of anonymity, called it “shocking” to see her in her current condition.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), who chairs the Judiciary Committee, said in May that he was “monitoring her medical condition almost on a daily basis.” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the top Republican on the committee, said at the time of Feinstein: “As a friend, you can see she’s hurting.”